Improvement in stills for distilling hydrocarbons



tited' Stuten JOSEPH B. EDWARDS, OF NORTH GREENBUSH, NEW YORK.

Letters Patent No. 100,874, dated ZlIm'ch 15, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN STILLS FOR DISTILLING- HIDROCARBQNS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern:

act description, reference being had to the accompaf nyirng drawing forming part of this specification, and

n r in which- Figure 1 represents a longitudinal sectional elevation of a horizontal cylinder still, with my improvement applied to it.; A

Figure 2 is a transverse section of the same; and

Figure 3, a transverse section, on a larger scale, of

'a perforated horizontal steam-pipe, used in carrying out my improvement.

Simrlar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

In the distillation of petroleum or other liquid hy- .drocarbons in stills employing outside fires, a very high degree-of heat hasv been necessary, and great care required to prevent burning or coloring the distillate.

Such process also is wanting in rapidity after the most volatile of the vapors have passed oli", which has involved a further addition to the heat.

There has consequently been not only a great loss of time and expenditure of fuel necessary, but the intense heat, combined with the absence of motion in the heavy liquids in the stills, as the distilling-process approaches conclusion, has produced coke and caused a crust'to form on the bottom of the still. This is very destructive to the still, as it involves frequent scraping, and, unless Irepeatedly attended to, retards distillation. l

Various expedients and devices have been resorted to by'way of avoiding these ditliculties. Thus some renners have used mechanical agitator-s, others movalble stills, others heating by snperheated steam, and

others again have distilled in vacuo, but all such methods have been objectionable, either on account of cost, complication, or from some other cause; and, notwithstanding the objections incidental to it, the old plan of progressive heating by outside fire continues, as a general thing, to be resorted to, and certainly has the advantage of simplicity to recommend it; and my invention includes the adoption of the same, sl1orn, however, of the objections yattending its ordinary application. l

My improvement consists in constructing stills heated by outside res in such manneras that steam of suitable pressure can be introduced into the liquid under distillation, so that it will not only regulate the heat inside the still, but also distribute it throughout the liquid, by producing currents therein, and thereby causing a constant and rapid interchange of position between the portion of the liquid next to the side or sides of the still exposed to the fire and the liquid situated at a distance from the direct action of the iirc.

By this improvement 'not only is a more rapid vaporization of the liquid secured, and with less heat, but also burning or formation of crust on the bottom of the stilbis prevented; likewise the vapors being mixed with the steam are passed off rapidly, and not scorched or colored as under other plans, excepting where distilling fin vacuo so commonly occurs.

It will not be necessary' here to describe my improvement, which consists in the use of steam, as and for the purpose above specified, to more than one kind of still, as from such description it will readily be seen how the' same can be adapted to stills of any form.

I4 therefore select, for the purpose of illustration, a horizontal cylinder still, in which the steam may `be led into the interior of the still by a pipe terminating in a T-end running lengthwise of the'still, and so perforated and located as that the steam will be discharged in jets with adequate force, and in such directions near the bottom of the still as that continuous currents will be established from the steam-pipe outward across such bottom.

Inl the accompanying drawing- A is the still, the liquid in which may stand at the level a..

B is the furnace, and b the flue under the still, the sameopening at its rear into the chimney C.

D D are the side walls to the furnaceand flue, and E the exit-pipe from the still leading to the worm.

Fis the steam-pipe, provided with a cock, c, to regulate the admission of steam, which escapes through perforations d in the lower or longitudinal run of thc llll3e i The operation, where the still is constructed and provided as shown and described, is as follows:

, The still having been charged with liquid to be distilled to the requisite height or depth, and fire started, the operation may be continued until the more volatile of the hydrocarbons in the liquid are expelled, or until the temperature is raised to, say, 212o Fahrenheit.

Steam is then admitted by the pipe E, and allowed to enter the liquid through the perfor-ations d, and such continued until the distillation is completed. The residunm having no coke in it, can then be drawn oli' and the still be refilled and its operation repeated, or in the case of petroleum or coal-tar, the operation may be made continuous until the paratiine is also expelled.

Different temperatures of steam should be used ihr different kinds of liquid--the more refractory the liquid to be distilled the lower the temperature of the steam, as a general thing.

By this my improvementa very large economy in fuel is eiiected, a materially-reduced heat sutticing, thus increasing the capacity of the works. Also less acid is required to deodorize .the distillate, which, in the distillation of oil, is ast-andarci white instead of a light straw or light straw to white.

Likewise, from the low temperature employed, no incondensable gases are formed, and more ofthe volatile parts, instead f being run in with the naphtha, are run in with the oil, to the advantage both in yield and quality of the product.

Furthermore, the residuum being iiuid, may be readily run off, while the tar, being free from coke and grit, is of increased value, and the frequent cooling off and; scraping and burning out of the still-bottom are avoided".

This my invention is in no ways analogous to the use of steam as heretofore practiced in the distillation of coalLto obtain coal-oil for the purpose 'of conserving the'vapors formed and hastening their exit from the hot retort, nor yet to the use, as previously adopted, of superheated steam as a means of heating ol-stills, both with and without furnace heat, all of which uses of steam are dissimilar to mine, and most of which have required complicated and expensive machinery, while my improvement can be applied or attached to any still with very little expense, is safe, and accomplishes results equal to those obtained from distilling in vacuo.

What is here claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is

The use of steam in the distillation of liquid hydrocarbons, in stills heated by external fire, when the steam is introduced int-o the stili in such a manner .that the lowest stratum of liquid therein will be conthe purpose above described.

J.B. EDWARDS.

Witnesses: A. L`Ln CLERC,

A.\`KINNIER. 

